Love this. The mechanics can be a bit more difficult to get your head round but when you do, it's very rewarding. Comparisons with San Juan are well made but there are a lot more options to pursue and a lot more to take into account. Got a bit jaded with it after so many plays but now play with 3 sites rather than 2 (in a 2p game) and this has breathed all new life into the game and made me up it to a 10. (Nearly all games played 2p)

After two games I was warily optimistic. After a few more I worried about balance. After 15 games, I considered this a great title, we often play 2-3 times in a sitting (along with other games). Numerous paths to victory. I dislike the artwork, and think that the game could use a bit more polishing (errata and final development). But still very good. Now that the second edition is out, I've upped my rating to a '10.' The new edition tightens a few of the cards up, and adds out of town sites. See my review.

(I should note that the second edition is the I.V. edition. I haven't tried the kickstarter version).Rating -- Suggest

I love this game. It's has a mechanic like San Juan and Race for the Galaxy where the cards have multiple uses so you need to figure out what's more important, role vs resource vs building. It's a little tough the first time or two but it grows on you. One of my top 10.

Very intriguing game that I think may eventually become one of my "10"s. I like this design's take on the multiple card usage even more than San Juan or Race from the Galaxy. I think the hand management options have more depth and the interaction is also higher than those games. Like those games, it is one of those designs where you must try to develop the best victory point engine. UPDATE: After a handful of games, I am upgrading my rating to a "10".

One of my new favorites. Very challenging to do well. More direct interaction than 'Race'. More long-term planning than I first expected. Starting to see that this game is much deeper and has many more possibilities than I originally thought. There are some frustrating moments getting up to speed in this game when you seem to go a couple turns without doing much productive. Excellent balance between need for tactical flexibility and longer term strategic preparations for the big combo of buildings.

This is the game San Juan should've been. It can be frustrating, but for the most part is fun. Can be very tense. I love this game and won't even think about trading it for the new edition. Very energetic game. Fun even when you're obviously losing.

I've finally played the newer version (we have the 2nd printing) and I do not like it as much. The toned down cards flatten the play too much; the over-abundance of Jacks makes them worth less. However, the out of town sites are very cool. I would consider adding those to our game.

Fantastic! I love the variety of paths to win the game. While the production quality is kind of low (though not horrid) it is still one of my favorite games to play. I prefer this as a 2-3 player game.

It was my life, like all lives, mysterious and irrevocable and sacred. So very close, so very present, so very belonging to me. How wild it was to let it be.

10

Jan 2010*

One of my all-time favorite games even though I'm not particularly good at it, and the best strategic card game out there (sorry Race and San Juan). It's always engaging, compelling, and different. It's a real work of genius the way the cards are used in so many different ways, and the buildings are truly inspired not just staid +1 this or -1 that. I absolutely love the crazy building combos available and the different ways to get the VP engine going that this game offers while at the same time offering you the "long bomb" of going for the Forum (which wins the game outright regardless of VPs). One could say that all the buildings in G2R are broken and therein lies the balance. The challenge is to build some kind of engine and get it on the track asap.

The beauty of the game is the way it evolves with your group over time. Sure, we all still go for craftsmen but we see more use of merchant and legionary clients than we used to. And people aren't afraid to spend multiple turns just grabbing Jacks. I think my favorite part of the game is the beginning as people are jockeying to see who can be among the first to get a craftsman client. Our plays are consistently under an hour so the play time is perfect.

Oh, and for the record, the original artwork never bothered me, and I looked down my nose at the people who looked down their noses and wouldn't touch this game for it. I absolutely loathe the new art as I find its constrained style dull and antithetical to the spirit of the game. But nerd prejudices aside, it's a great game, and everybody should rate it a 10.

Since "on steroids" is such a cliche, let's just call this "San Juan Gone Wild!" If you like San Juan for its elegance, Glory to Rome may not be the game for you. But if you've ever thought that San Juan needed more buildings, roles, mechanisms, paths to victory, and a hidden VP "stash," this game will probably hit a sweet spot for you. It's been a long time since I've found a game that I want to replay immediately after finishing as much as this one.

Edit after playing Version I.V - The out-of-town sites and tweaked buildings worked just fine. The game's even better now.

Rich and meaty!!! Plenty of consequences from your decisions, but still very fluid -- it doesn't feel like there's only one right move. Games can be very different from each other.

This already earned my "10" rating before we even started using the building functions on our 6th game. It's still one of my 3 favorite games now, after about 200 games.

For comparison, I really liked San Juan and had fun playing it about 70 times before tiring of it. And I like Race For The Galaxy, but find it somewhat dry and sterile. But anyway, the cards in Glory To Rome act much more multi-functional, and their movement among the game areas is much more strategic.

I like the cartoony art of the I.V edition that bothers some people. Or the austere art of the Black Box edition; either is fine.

Amazing card game in the same vein as Race for the Galaxy and San Juan, but it is, at the same time, more complex and less serious. This is the best of the bunch despite the cartoony artwork. A lot of strategic options are available and there are some really powerful building combinations that can lead to some crazy high scores. The Forum and Catacombs add nice alternative endings, which can alter one's strategy. I've played this mostly with two players and a few times with 3 and once with 4. All numbers are fun since everybody pretty much gets to act during everyone else's turn. I would imagine 5 is a good number too. This is currently one of my favorite games and imagine playing this for a long time to come. I will probably have to buy another copy since my cards are starting to show some wear after 17 plays. Well worth the price though.

Has the wonderful strong powers of CE, but available to all players, in a San Juan style cards do everything format. The pool is a clever mechanism whereby the state of the game determines what clients and materials are available, and which changes to reflect the different actions chosed at different stages in the game.

Good tension between short and long term planning. Too much opportunistic play will stuff up accomplishing longer term goals.

Love the supposedly 'unbalanced' and 'broken' powers that balance out through interesting combos. Multiple paths to victory and highly interactive. Scalable though a bit easy to rush the victory with fewer players. Like how each card can be used for various purposes and the common pool mechanic. Tops San Juan and RftG easily.

Chris Rao really hit on something when he described Glory to Rome as "more creative and less mechanical." The buildings provide some surprising and uproariously fun advantages in GtR, in contrast with games ranging from Jambo (with it's straightforward card/ware/gold equivalencies) to Race (with it's larger range of straightforward draw/min-max advantages). I'm not sure there are "balance" issues here either, as numerous personal comments attest. Rather, I think the game is designed so that most of the combination machinery can and will spin nigh-out-of-control as the endgame approaches. You can't really single out a card that is "broken" by fastidious Eurogaming standards; the whole deck is potentially "broken." Compare this to Agricola, where superb play barely nets you a decent farm, and the entire game centers around eeking out a few extra actions. In Glory to Rome, you get to run after the warm-up.

Rated a "10" just in time for the new year (2009).

After lots of three-player games, I'm a tad bit wary of 5-player, although perhaps just with new players. I would like to play several four-player games, though.

Edit: I rate the 5-player game a 7. A good way to spend 45 minutes, but with 5 you will not hit the full potential of the game.

Art work quirky, fun and enlightening. Game play is excellent: smooth, interaction, plopping opportunities. Similar to San Juan in that the cards are used in many ways but with GTR there is more to get the brain cells going. Love it.

Forget Race for the Galaxy, forget dominion. This is a thinking person’s game. My only complaint is the cartoonish artwork, detracts from what is in my opinion one of the best card games out there. If you get a chance to play this please do, you will not be disappointed.

My favorite card game. G2R is extremely high on depth. It plays fast, has lots of player interaction and tremendous replay value. Rules and mechanical elegance are very good, but not as sublime as San Juan/RftG. On the other hand, the roles are quite different than PR, SJ or RftG. And the building abilities are much more interesting than either SJ or RftG.

Also own the Black Box Edition....Imagine if Puerto Rico and Cosmic Encounter had a baby which they named Glory to Rome. GtR Cons: Kind of a hodge podge of rules, it's difficult to teach, it usually takes the better part of your first game to get a handle on the rules and strategy, and so it's a gamer's game. Pros: Somehow it all works...you are actively engaged on every players turn, all of the cards are overpowered so it balances somewhat, it's got some back and forth (legionnaire), it's got engine building in a sense, you are racing to complete your buildings so there is tension, depending on what you build every game feels different (variable player powers). My only regret is not being able to get this to the table more often.

Rich strategy game with the possibility for outrageous card combinations. This role-selection game is much better than I even expected. To me, the artwork is perfect because it illustrates the fact that the game explodes with laughs as the powers of finished buildings add up.

My girlfriend actually plays it...... This is a game that allows you create ridiculous, super over powered engines that dominate your opponents. When you learn the game, countering super engines and being able to pull off a win is where the real satisfaction kicks in.

If you do purchase, laminate the player mats, and sleeve the cards it'll be a game you'll play for years. And if you want to go all out make player mat stands that elevate your player mat so cards can fit underneath easier.

I love it for the fact that there's no set-ways of playing it. The combos those building's abilities can give are endless. Being creative both strategically tactically would likely to award you with more wins, that's the best thing I like about this game. Once I didn't play to win (cuz my friend had lost a few times straight so I tried to go easy,) I still had fun just building whatever buildings come in handy and hire whoever that's available. (On top of that, I still ended up winning..)

Just build and hire first then think about what to do with them next! You might just come up with new ways of playing it.

This game is like a bag of pleasant surprises for me.

Pros:1. Deep in strategy.2. No optimal/sure-win strategy.3. High replay value.4. Great player interaction.5. Lots of different combos to be discovered.6. Feel differently each time you play.7. Helluva FUN!

June '09: Played it for the first time at Tom's house with Tim and Allen. Cool game. Feels a bit like San Juan to me. Took a while to get the feel of it. I'd love to play it again sometime.

Edit Aug '09: Moved rating up to a "9" b/c I absolutely love this game. Have played most of my games with Tim, but also some 3 and 4 person games with Tim, Allen, Nate, and Pearson. Terrific interaction and the 2-person games just fly by. Tim and I can play 6-8 games without even thinking about the time. Played til 3 or 4am last couple of times.

Edit Feb. '10: Moved rating up to a 9.5 and {drumroll please........} into the #1 spot in my Top 10, beating out long standing Agricola.

First, I was overwhelmed by the different roles and whether I wanted to build or put cards in the Vault, etc. Towards the middle part of the game things came together more or less. I love how the building combos gradually give you more benefits, and by the end of the game you can have amazing combos. The mechanics are wonderful and once you get down the rules the gameplay is very smooth and so much entertainig. There is still a lot to learn about the cards and the possible combos you might be able to build. An excellent game all around.I love the colours and the artwork on the cards, and the quotations add a fun extra touch to the gameplay.

My favorite card game. Fairly easy to set up. Simpler to explain than Race for the Galaxy and has considerably more player interaction. Though there are some strategic elements, it is a highly tactical game. Rewards the ability to spot and execute card combinations. Despite the potential wild swings in fortune, it is in fact far less luck driven than some believe.

A genius design that makes for many layered decisions as each card could be used for any number of purposes. A multitude of interesting decisions and shifting board state makes this an extremely heavy, but satsifying card game in an unassuming cartoonish style.

No game does it like GtR. The unwieldy equilibrium of victory is genius, which for me gives the game its flavor and place. The production value could be higher, but is disproportionate to how often I will play it.

Though GtR can be discouraging for new players, everyone should play (at least) 3 times before giving up on the game.

Can't help but compare this to Innovation which came out after this but which I played first. GtR has a lot of the same feel I love about Innovation only a little less chaotic. Mechanics are hard to explain but easy to grasp and elegant once you've played a couple games. Just awesomely fun. Great game.